Category Archives: Chihuly

Seattle was our Pacific Northwest outpost, a temporary base to recalibrate, rest, replenish, and repair before making the official third left turn of our trek around the U.S.

Between arranging for storage of our gear, bike tune-ups and repairs, and servicing the Escape Mobile, we worked in some sightseeing, local bites, and what I looked forward to most…

Taken at a later gathering

reconnecting with dear friends. I actually consider the English’s as family, as they were quasi-parents during my tween years.

With a hectic schedule, we failed to capture photos of the hilly, eclectic, quaint, and prosperous Queen Anne neighborhood. This photo is borrowed from an online visitors’ guide.

Walking distance to grocery stores, restaurants, and a laundry mat, our Queen Anne neighborhood Airbnb townhome provided a quaint and comfortable refuge. Sitting on a hill overlooking Elliott Bay, Queen Anne is a historic neighborhood with a mix of Victorian cottages and mansions.

Sailboat on Elliott Bay

Its central location provides easy access to downtown, tourist destinations, and major thoroughfares. Note within the neighborhood and around Seattle, the roadways twist, ascend and wind around in every direction making it difficult to know where you’re heading. Trey said, “It’s as if the streets were laid out by a 4 year old with a crayon!”

Space Needle and Chihuly

At the base of Queen Anne hill lays Seattle Center, the city’s art hub and site of the 1962 World’s Fair.

Museum of Pop Culture, Designed by Frank Gehry

Our tourist-ing time limited, we stuck to the top of our priority list, plus the crystal blue sky beckoned…

So it was up, up, up Seattle’s iconic landmark, the Space Needle. Across every direction, the vistas were amazing!

And how wonderful to see the glorious immensity of Mt. Rainier once again.

Directly adjacent to the Space Needle is Dale Chihuly’s Garden and Glass museum. We’d encountered a Chihuly sculpture outside the Montreal Museum of Art, and prior to that, in Texas on a medical school campus.

A similar installation sits in front of the Montreal Museum of Art

That first awe-inspiring experience hooked us and we were intrigued to learn more about the the Washington native, his vision, inspiration, and art.

Connecting rooms guide visitors across Chihuly’s career and creative explorations.

Chihuly was inspired by the Navajo’s use of horse hair and textiles in their pottery. We came across such pottery traveling through Navajo country and purchased a small vase as a memento.

Neither Trey nor I had stepped foot outside of the United States until Sunday, July 13, 2014. We acknowledge that Canada can barely be classified as international travel, but that is how it worked out for us – plus, we accept the fact that Canada is a good baby step to acquainting ourselves with foreign travel prior to our planned travel across the Atlantic in the spring.

Entering Canada

Verizon Wireless knew exactly when we crossed the border and started blasting our phones with texts on the limits of our plan, data service costs, and the fact that we no longer had mobile service. Regardless, we managed to successfully navigate the kilometers to our Airbnb apartment situated between the Quartier des Spectacles and Quartier Latin areas of Montreal. A great location to walk or bike to everything we wanted to see in Montreal!

We unloaded quickly as we were anxious to check out a nearby festival we noticed on our trip into the city. We walked just a few short blocks south and then east and came upon barricaded streets, rows upon rows of tents, and loads of people of all sorts.

Art and Performance Festivals in Quartier des Spectacles

Most like us, spectators, but many that would put Austin’s weirdness to shame – like the little person, a male, wearing nothing but a white cowboy hat, matching boots and a cloth diaper!

We soon realized he and the others were performance artists. We were enchanted watching a pair of what appeared to be large air conditioner ducts dancing to techno.

Dancing Ducts

Then there were the deadpanned faced robot dancers. And these guys…

It was a fantastic welcome to Montreal which made us feel comfortable and at home despite the fact that everyone was talking French.

Without cell phones to guide us to restaurants and unable to confidently read menus we were completely reliant on intuition to find a place to eat. We were hungry, but not feeling too adventurous, so selected what appeared to be a chain that had a name we could read – Baton Rouge. It was similar to the U.S.’s TGIF chain in food quality and ambiance, but we were able to refuel and watch Germany beat Argentina in extra time to win the FIFA World Cup.

Mount Royal

Feeling refreshed the next morning we hopped on our bikes and peddled our way toward Mount Royal. A hill located in the center of relatively flat Montreal and just west of downtown. It rises roughly 740 feet above the city and is visible from many parts of the city — the entire city is visible from atop Mount Royal!

The beauty of Montreal is best appreciated atop Mount Royal

A city park, as well as nature and recreation areas encompass the hill. It also makes for a beautiful and challenging bike ride. The foot and bike only path is an old carriage road that winds around the hill for about 4 miles ascending at a steady grade to the summit.

It was only from the top of Mount Royal that we could truly appreciate the beauty of Montreal.

It is an obvious must see for visitors, but it was also an obvious favorite of the locals as well.

A chalet at Mt. Royal’s summit hosts community events and is a gathering place for locals

Having gained some confidence with our ability to communicate with the locals we ventured to find a neighborhood lunch spot near Mount Royal and wound up at Café Santropol – mostly vegetarian and very funky. Perfect!

Jean-Talon Market

Next, it was off to Jean-Talon market, which we had been told is the best of the city’s several outdoor farmers markets. Had we researched previously, we would have found that it was the further of three in our area and the main route required a harrowing bike ride on a heavily traveled street. Once we safely arrived though, we very much enjoyed the market’s energy, colors and freshness.

Market Colors

The indoor and outdoor market takes up two square blocks and is surrounded by eateries. It is well worth a visit even to just browse among the fresh food and flowers. Even though we were on bikes, we couldn’t resist buying a few fresh vegetables which Trey stir fried us up for dinner the next evening.

Trey’s yummy stir-fry

We found an indirect but safer route back to our apartment cutting through neighborhoods and for a portion, an actual bike path.

Quartier Latin

Too tired at that point to cook, we opted to walk several blocks north to Rue Saint-Denis – a lively street lined with restaurants, street musicians, hungry tourists and more than a handful of homeless 20-somethings. Without a particular craving we strolled several blocks before our indecisiveness was overcome by our hunger and we settled on a Mexican food restaurant.

Mexican food in Quebec? I know, but it had been over 6 weeks since we’d left Austin and our two Tex-mex meals a week habit. Plus, the sign on the restaurants entrance advertised the best margarita’s Montreal. Sold!

The walk back to our apartment at dusk provided us with the most disturbing image we had experienced to date on our travels. I can now say that it was the most disturbing image of our North American travel period. An older than the average Rue Saint-Denis homeless man followed us for a couple of blocks talking sporadically and incoherently. As we neared an open green space I noticed a young woman with light brown hair sitting on the lawn to our left with her backpack contents spread about her. She had some type of makeshift tourniquet tied around her right upper arm and a syringe in her left hand – she was shooting up.

This site also caught the attention of the homeless man who promptly turned away from us and made a beeline to this young lady. I wanted to intervene and tell her that she didn’t have to live like that. But very much feeling my own vulnerability in that moment, I instead opted to continue walking with Trey toward our apartment. The well-being of this young lady and our reaction to the scene still haunt me today.

Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal

Our last full day in Montreal was just that – a full day. We walked again through the festivals of the Quartier des Spectacles on our way to the Basilique Notre-Dame de Montréal — the first of four basilicas we ended up visiting in North America.

Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal

We’re not Catholic, nor particularly religious. We were simply drawn to Montreal’s Notre-Dame Basilica’s grand gothic architecture; however, it was the opulent interior that left us awestruck and wanting to learn more about what exactly sets basilicas apart from other Catholic cathedrals and churches.

Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal

The designation of a church as a basilica can only be made by the Pope and it generally is due to the cathedral’s level of historical or artistic significance, and/or its importance or role in the local community.

Notre-Dame Basilica of Montreal’s Pipe Organ

Montreal’s basilica did not seem to be lacking of any such credentials. The massive organ has an impressive 7,000 pipes and four keyboards, and the alter showpiece was a whopping 20-ton bronze sculpture.

We were two of about 30 that paid $5 to take one of two guided tours that are offered daily every 30 minutes — The 190 year old gothic revival cathedral was bustling, beautiful and bodacious. My new belief that perhaps the Catholic Church believed there was a direct correlation to the level of grandiose-ness and Godliness would gladly be adjusted later in our trip.

Old Montreal

It is a short walk from the Basilica to Rue Saint Paul — a street in an upscale residential, shopping, art and dining area that includes several blocks closed off to cars.

Rue Saint Paul, Montreal

It is located in “old Montreal” which had been surrounded by a wall in the 1700’s and sits along the Saint Lawrence River. I was sorry that we did not allow ourselves more time to explore and absorb the old city. It provided our first experience of what I imagine some European cities will be like – narrow cobble stone streets lined with quaint Victorian buildings full of unique shops and engaging people.

Old Montreal

After arriving too late at the Montreal Science Museum to secure entrance, we started the mile and half trek back to our apartment enjoying the scenes and scents in China Town along the way.

China Town, Montreal

We were happy to give our sore feet a break when we came upon a spirited pick-up soccer match – very competitive and entertaining.

This 7v7 pick up game was serious business

We left Montreal enriched with the experience and people we encountered there, and with a few regrets – again, would have loved to have had more time in “old Montreal,” and will assure that time is allowed on our next visit to tour the Montreal Museum of Fine Arts.

Chihuly outside of the Montreal Museum of ArtDucklings on the St. Lawrence RiverThey’re everywhere!